They had only marched about six hours when Captain Aros called them all to a halt and commanded tents be erected and all the horses secured and hobbled. Behind them the wind had picked up and the clouds could be seen closing in on their location. There had been a brief argument between Captain Aros and Second Minister Thane about continuing their path even in the rain that was soon to come. The Captain assured him traveling in this coming storm would cause more loss of time than tenting now. The Second huffed a bit and made sure his tent was erected first and hid himself inside shortly after it was up. Kenton smiled knowing that the Captain left out that the muddied path would slow them down after the rain passed as well. He let out a brief sigh, knowing it was too soon to rid them all of the Second. He dearly hoped that the situation would present itself where he could kill the Second while staring him in the face, but if it did not, the Second would still find himself as worm food.


    The efficient soldiers, both cavalry and foot, had the last tents up just before the hard pelts of heavy rain drops began to hit. Kenton placed his belongings in his tent and headed to the command tent, knowing this is where and when the Captain would share the details of the mission. He hoped to get the information he needed before the future worm food arrived. As he approached the Captain was heading in and gave Kenton a brief smile. The Captain understood why Kenton did not wait on a messenger to summon him.


    Once they were both inside, the Captain dismissed the two soldiers inside that were setting up his cot and table. Once they left, he said, “Kenton, I am glad you came straight away. As you are aware, we have a mountain man to catch. We have had positive identification of Kestrin from our spies. He has been coming down to Mova and meeting with a woman once a week. The bad news,” he paused as he wiped a bit of rain off his face with a towel. “The bad news is that two of our spies failed to report and were found dead. His next meeting time came, and he did not show. The woman did. We are watching her. We did not grab her and would rather leave that task to someone who can get the answers we need. Know anyone?” Aros smiled at Kenton.


    “Oh, I just might. So, I am to inquire upon her, but I assume you will be sending others ahead into the mountain while I find out what she knows?”


    “Yes. You will have access to runners when you gain the information needed from this woman.” Captain Aros unrolled a map and placed it on his table. A soldier popped his head in.


    “Captain?” the soldier asked.


    “Yes, Dreinen?”


    “The Second says he will not come while the rain is so hard and has asked to be roused when the rain lets up.”


    Aros sighed. “Thank you, Dreinen.” Aros nodded dismissal and Dreinen popped back out of the tent.


    “I might move on ahead of the main group and have a talk with this lady, so we do not have to worry about runners. I might gain a day or so on you, traveling alone to Mova.” Kenton said, looking down at the map, tracing two different paths. One path the soldiers would have to take because of size, and one he could take as just a man on a horse.


    “I rather hoped so, but there is one more important thing of note.” Aros waited on Kenton to look at him. “The Minister’s daughter has run off.”


    Kenton thought for a minute, looking for the connection. He knew very little of the Minister’s daughter. He had kept her pretty isolated from the rougher side of dealings, Kenton knew. “Ahh, she must have learned more about how her father does business. Are we to rescue her once she learns how bad the world can be outside of the Ministry?”


    “Worse,” Aros said. “She knew more than we might have assumed. The minister went through her journals from a few years back. She has not written any in years, but she has known about the fertilizer for a while and has hidden her disgust for that for years, it seems. The Minister had no idea she knew so much. He said her diary listed times she would observe the testings, which I do not even think you saw much of. I do not even see that side of things. And then the axle breaks on the cart when she learns the same information I just told you. It seems she is on a quest, at least the Minister assumes she is with his new understanding of her knowledge. We are to apprehend her, subdued if needed.” Aros took a drink of water. “So, if you see her, now you know why and what the Minister requires.”


    Kenton was silent for a moment. Taking care of young women was far from any interest of his. If he found her first, no one else ever would. He didn’t think bringing her back would make her change her mind on matters, so he did not see any point. “I shall keep this in mind.” He finally replied. He nodded to the Captain and walked out into the heavy wind and rain. He could hardly see, but he had a remedy for that. He closed his eyes, reopened them, and while the wind and rain obscured his vision some, he could see plenty well through the darkness that would keep the others in their tents. He found his way to his tent, dried off a bit once inside, and laid down to sleep. He would need at least a few hours rest if he was to ride hard to Mova.


    By the time Kenton woke up the rain had settled into a steady drizzle. He gathered his things, got his horse ready and started riding off. His thought as he trotted away was the brief sadness that the Second would live just a little longer. He kept the horse at a steady pace occasionally walking with it instead of on it to give it some rest. The rain started to die off after he passed Molander, a small village where he watered himself and his horse. The ground was soggy but the horse was able to keep steady at a good trot. He felt he should make it to Bands by nightfall.


    This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.


    The trip gave him time to think about all the pieces to this puzzle. The mountain man was some sort of possible break in the Minister’s plan to kill the people he wished dead. He did not want the guy alive, so it was not information he needed from him. That meant that the man knew information that the Minister did not want him to know. If it was just telling people about the plan, the man already would have. To Kenton, that meant the man may know a way to stop it. That may not be information the Minister wanted anyone to know, but Kenton decided that he needed that information, just in case the poison would work on him. This was a puzzle he wanted solved, and this mountain man could get him closer to answering it. Kenton had to get to him before the soldiers. He did not mind killing him afterwards, that would cover his tracks of asking questions anyway, so it benefited him and the Minister, both.


    The woman made it more interesting. If she had been in talks with the Mountain man, she may also know what he knows. It could just be something romantic, but he doubted that. The bigger question was: why would he come out of hiding to talk to this woman? He had evaded the Minister for quite some time. Why would meeting with this woman warrant coming out of hiding? It had to have some benefit. If it was just a piece of information, he would have had it and not come back. Why would they meet multiple times? To Kenton’s thought process, this mean he was bringing something to her, or she was bringing something to him. There had to be something physical swapping hands more than just information.


    The Minister wants the mountain man dead because he knows how to stop the poisoning, and most likely he is giving the woman the cure or a way to protect against it. He must be making batches and bringing them down to her. If this was the truth of it, that would mean she is either gathering a large batch and storing it somewhere, or there are more people that she is interfacing with that are taking the curative to different locations. So, not only did he have to learn what the mountain man and the woman knew, but also find a way to collect this medicine, which might be harder if she was sending it out in small batches.


    Mountain man first, and then woman second. He could chase the tail after that. Getting some of the medicine might benefit him, so he would have to find it himself rather than telling the soldiers what to look for. This would be so much easier if the Minister had just sent him. Well, easier for him.


    Ahh, but then there was still the Minister’s daughter. It would not be efficient to let the soldiers catch her. They would take her back to her father and eventually she would run off again. People with goals and morals did not tend to just give up, which meant Kenton would have to go after her again sometime later. Best to just make it so no one ever finds her. This job was turning into quite the task. With any luck he would run into the girl on the way to silence the mountain man.


    He was right about his timing and rode into Bands just as the sun was getting ready to set. He dismounted at the first inn he came to, but the door was locked. He had stayed there several times before. It was the only inn he had ever stayed at in Bands because it was quiet and had decent food. He turned to go and noticed a rather large man tied to a post. He knew this was what happened to people who did dirty deeds. It could be anything from destroying property, such as in a tavern brawl, all the way to murder.


    Kenton removed his dagger and placed it up his sleeve just out of visual range, making sure no one noticed the move. He walked over to the large tied up man and kicked him. The guy opened his eyes wearily. The blood stains on his head and down the back and side of his shirt showed he had been hit on the head. The different size of his pupils showed it was a life changing hit. This man would never be who he was before if he lived.


    “Yeahl?” he said loose tongued.


    “How long has this inn been closed?” Kenton asked, not sure why he was asking, but following his instinct.


    “Tolay. Ban go,” the man replied.


    Kenton knelt next to him. “Hmm, why would it close today?” He asked, looking off down the empty road. The sun was almost down and the town had a blue tint to it.


    “Girl wan tea. Girl tase good.” The man was looking pale, and his skin looked clammy.


    Kenton slipped the dagger out and slid it smoothly under the man’s ribs. Half of the man’s face looked confused as he coughed a little bit of blood. “I do so hate mercy killings, but I do not care for you to tell anyone else this information.” He said as he wiped the blood from the dagger on the man’s shirt. He sat staring into the man’s eyes until the last bit of life faded away. Kenton watched around him to make sure no one had seen the exchange, remounted, and moved on to find the next inn.


    This night he stayed at the only other inn in town, the Pigeon and Pot. He placed his things in his room and went down to the bar room. He nursed an ale and listened. He learned many things, most completely unimportant. The important things he learned were about the large man, the girl who he assumed was the Minister’s daughter, the boy she traveled with, and the innkeeper who left town.


    The Minister’s daughter had come into town with this boy, and they stayed at the inn. The large man had tried to force himself on the girl and was walloped by the innkeeper. A bit after the kids left, the innkeeper closed shop and left town as well.


    He knew where the girl was going. The boy he would have to figure out later, as there was not enough information to even wager a guess. The innkeeper following was the real curiosity. Did he wallop the big guy because he wanted the girl and was going to be smarter about it than the oaf? No, that did not seem reasonable with how the townsfolk talked about this man. They all seemed to respect this Bayrn. He was most likely following these kids to protect them. If that happens to be true, why? Why would he want to protect two random kids? He was going to be another obstacle to quietly making the Minister’s daughter disappear, so Kenton would just ask him before he killed him. He did not need to know, but his curious nature would make him keep wondering. He sighed to himself. He started with a job of killing one person and it just kept growing. So many people to kill and he was already behind. He decided he could only sleep a few hours tonight and would need to move quickly. Even so, he thought it was fortuitous that they were on the same path.


    Kenton slept briefly and woke up a couple hours before sunrise and began his hunt.